USB Flash Drives (UFD) provide a convenient medium for the storage of user files and for the transfer of these files between different computers. One salient feature of UFD devices is their ability to exchange data with microcomputers and laptops having ports which support the standardized USB interface.
There is a need to transfer information from one UFD to another, similar UFD without the presence of a computer. Towards this end, a number of portable data exchange devices (DED) for copying information from one UFD to another are available for purchase, such as:
1. “USB Bridge” available from Delkin DEDs through PROVANTAGE Corporation, North Canton, Ohio, USA. Using this device, a user may transfer data from one USB flash drive to another without the use of a computer, by plugging both UFDs into two female sockets.
2. FlashPoint ShareDrive available from Xmultiple Technologies, Simi Valley, Calif., USA, that has a female connector into which the user can plug two UFDs sequentially. In this way, the user may transfer data from a source UFD to a target UFD by first copying the data from the source UFD into the DED, and then copying the data from the DED to the target UFD.
Both of the aforementioned products, while useful for copying the full content of a UFD into another UFD, do not address the problem of selectivity, which is very typical for a user who carries stored personal data. In particular, there are many situations where the user wants to transfer only some information on the UFD instead of copying the full content.
US Patent Application 2003/163622 (in particular, FIG. 2 of that document) discloses a non-volatile memory device which is operative to exchange one or more files and/or data sets requested by the user with another similar non-volatile memory device.